Aikido’s Daito-ryu origins impossible to deny!

Historians have at times attempted to minimize the impact of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu — the creation of Sokaku Takeda — on modern aikido. A careful investigation of the early martial arts studies of Morihei Ueshiba demonstrates otherwise. Morihei Ueshiba was one of Takeda’s most skilled students. In fact, Sokaku at what pointing was grooming Morihei as his successor!

This video is an excellent exercise in reconstructing the techniques that Morihei Ueshiba was teaching in the mid-1930s as illustrated in “Budo Renshu”, a training manual published by the Founder in 1934 with illustrations drawn by Takako Kunigoshi. Technically speaking, they represent a transition period between the prewar syllabus of the Kobukan Dojo and Morihei’s art after the war as practiced in Iwama.

This compilation was made by two Ukrainian Daito-ryu Takumakai practitioners of the Kiev Dokokai, Andrey Kuropyatnyk and Ivan Labushevskiy. “Budo Renshu” was privately published by Morihei Ueshiba under the auspices of the Kobukan Dojo of Tokyo, the Founder’s private dojo.